Effects of the relative tool rotation direction on formability during the incremental forming of titanium sheets

E H Uheida,M B Bezuidenhout,G A Oosthuizen,D M Dimitrov,P A Hugo

doi:10.1007/s00170-018-1837-9

E H Uheida, M B Bezuidenhout + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-018-1837-9

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Abstract

The effects of tool rotation direction during single point incremental forming of pure titanium were experimentally studied. Axisymmetric components with a varying wall angle were formed using a round-tipped tool of 10 mm diameter and following a 3D spiral tool path. Test runs were executed by changing one factor at a time. Spindle rotation was tested in both the climb and the conventional directions. Tool step depth between runs was increased by a fixed interval over the range of 0.35 mm up to the plate thickness of 0.8 mm. The experimental results obtained by a comparison between the two forming strategies and their impact on the characteristics of formability are discussed in this paper. The achieved level of the forming angle (75°), and the reduction in geometric deviations from the conventional strategy, presents interesting findings. Considerable variations in the trends of forces and temperature between the two forming strategies are presented and discussed.

Highlights

Single point incremental forming (SPIF) is an evolving flexible manufacturing process, where a sheet is formed into a final shape by a series of small incremental deformations
Being characterised by long processing time, SPIF is typically suited for fabricating of customised parts, small series, or for rapid prototyping of thin-walled components
Because of a lack of sheet support, SPIF is characterised by relatively low geometrical precision, when compared to conventional sheet forming techniques

Summary

Introduction

Single point incremental forming (SPIF) is an evolving flexible manufacturing process, where a sheet is formed into a final shape by a series of small incremental deformations. The process allows the production of geometrically complex sheet components, while requiring less tooling, and standard CNC equipment. Being characterised by long processing time, SPIF is typically suited for fabricating of customised parts, small series, or for rapid prototyping of thin-walled components. Because of a lack of sheet support, SPIF is characterised by relatively low geometrical precision, when compared to conventional sheet forming techniques. This has resulted in few industrial applications of the process. Allwood et al [1] studied forming

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